


Splinter and crack

by disappointionist



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Caught in a Storm, F/M, Fluff, car cuddles, with some Angst potential
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 20:38:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7860280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disappointionist/pseuds/disappointionist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Dan thinks about how that’s Arin’s scarf between them, and wonders exactly which shade of weird this will end up being, sharing a back seat with his best friend’s wife during a snowstorm.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Splinter and crack

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iamavacado](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamavacado/gifts).



"Shit," Suzy says, so sudden that it startles Dan.

They've been quiet since it started snowing heavily, both agreeing that Suzy needs her full focus for the road. It’s not far between the cabin and the store, but it has taken them at least three times as long to get anywhere. That is, if Dan is even right about where along the road they are.

"Shit, Shit, Shit,” Suzy repeats, under her breath. “I'm sorry. I seriously can't drive anymore.” She looks over at Dan, clearly worried.

The road ahead is barely visible by now, way worse than when they left the store. Dan knows snowy roads, and he isn't going to risk anything over frozen vegetables melting away in the trunk.

"No, no I get it," he says, reassuringly. "Let's stop as soon as we can."

 

Suzy exhales, frowning deeply while she drives them in silence for another couple of minutes. Finally, she finds and turns onto what is at least vaguely reminiscent of an exit to a smaller road.

"Okay, good," Dan says, exhaling. “I think we’re good here.”

It's not likely that anyone else will be driving in this weather, and it’s probably safest to not try and stray from the road, just to end up possibly snowed into their makeshift parking space.

"Did you bring your phone?" he asks Suzy, because his own is plugged into the charger in the cabin.

"Yeah," Suzy replies, fishing it out of her pocket. "It should have enough battery to call the others.”

“Great,” Dan says, relieved that they don’t need to cause a search party just yet.

 

He listens as Suzy calls Arin, who makes someone else, possibly Barry, look up the weather. Suzy repeats back the answer that the snow is supposed to stop within the half hour, which translates in Dan’s head as thankfully probably not needing a search party at all.

A half hour, Dan thinks, is also something they can manage without getting either bored or annoyed with each other. They’ve spent more time together than that before. Not necessarily while not working, or being otherwise occupied by a TV show, or Arin, or someone else. But surely they both know how to make up conversation for more than that time. After all, they do that for a living.

 

“I’ll turn this off for now, save it in case we need it later,” Suzy says, holding the phone up.

“Yeah that’s probably for the best,” Dan agrees. “Even though it means we can’t waste time playing Candy Crush.”

“Do you play Candy Crush, Dan?” Suzy asks him, tone somewhere between curiosity and amusement.

“Well, no,” Dan says with a laugh. “To be honest I barely know what it is. But that’s hardly my point.”

Suzy smiles at him, and Dan thinks that being the sole focus of Suzy actually is quite nice.

“I would totally teach you how to play. I’m kind of a master of such things.” She looks out the window, leaning her head in her hand, elbow resting against the door. “And then I get too invested and I can’t stop.”

“But you’ve earned the title of master, so what could be the harm,” Dan says.

“That’s true,” Suzy says. "I'm kind of cold,” she adds, grimacing. “Which is probably a terrible thing to announce when we’re stuck in a car in the snow for at least thirty minutes, and about two has passed.”

"Nah, just kind of terrible.” Dan looks at her and smiles, nodding his head toward the back of the car. “Climb into the back seat. There's maybe a jacket, and some blankets in the trunk. And I had the sense to equip some long-ass arms. Maybe I can reach them."

"It's worth a shot," Suzy says, unbuckling her seat belt and moving to the back of the car.

 

Dan follows, being careful not to accidentally elbow her or step on her feet. He stays on his knees on the seat, and tries to grasp something that isn't grocery bags. After only mild struggles, he reaches a blanket, Arin's plaid scarf, and a sweater.

"Okay, bundle up," he tells Suzy, handing her the items.

"What about you?" she asks.

"I'll be fine," Dan says, resting one hand on the back of the passenger seat.

"Well,” Suzy says, in her most determined manner. The one Dan knows he won’t be able to argue with even if he’d want to.

“Then prepare to cuddle, because we’re sharing these.” She gives the blanket and scarf back to Dan.

For a few seconds, they sit staring at each other, Dan’s knuckles brushing against the soft material of the blanket. He thinks about how that’s Arin’s scarf between them, and wonders exactly which shade of weird this will end up being, sharing a back seat with his best friend’s wife during a snowstorm.

“Oh stop it,” Suzy sighs, putting the bundle down in Dan’s lap. Then she takes her jacket off and unfolds the sweater. It’s one of Dan’s sweatshirts, well-worn through the years, barely blue anymore.

 

Dan watches while Suzy tucks her scarf into the neck of the sweater, before putting her jacket back on, zipping it back up with mild force. As she turns her head to look questioningly at Dan, he gives in with a sigh, moving on the seat to find a good position to sit in.

At last, he props his legs up against the door, Suzy lying down between them, her back to Dan's chest. She moves as if she’s done this a million times before, which strangely enough makes Dan feel better about it all. He shakes the blanket out and let’s Suzy pull it over herself, while Dan wraps the scarf around his shoulders, letting it fall down to drape over Suzy's as well.

"Is this good?" Suzy asks, tipping her head back to look at him upside down.

"Yeah," Dan says in a warm tone. "If we weren't trapped in a snow storm, I'd say it was even kind of nice."

Suzy laughs, and Dan thinks that she has one of the best laughs he knows.

"Aww, Dan," she says, leaning her head to the side.

Dan can see her smiling, and it makes him smile as well, because it feels like they’re sharing something.

"You have a great laugh you know," he says, without thinking.

Suzy is quiet for a second. "Are you trying to seduce me, in case we get snowed in here?" she asks, her voice airy and teasing.

"I couldn't do that," Dan says quickly, though he means for it to sound more like a joke than it comes out.

"No?" Suzy says. She raises her brow as if she's surprised, but her tone doesn't quite match. "Last chance of sex before death?"

"Yeah, sure. But imagine accidentally dying before you finish and then being found naked and frozen to death in a car," Dan says.

Suzy laughs again, louder and longer this time. It trembles through Dan's chest.

"Yeah okay fine," she says, once her breathing has evened out. "Point taken."

 

A few minutes pass, during which there is mostly silence, but also Suzy wishing that either of them had brought a book for emergencies. In response to this, Dan tries to list potential emergencies at the grocery store that could involve the crucial use of a book. It includes, but isn't limited to: defense against a robber’s bullets and Aliens afraid of literature.

Dan knows that he might be trying to draw the laughter out of Suzy, the same way he tries to chase it down with Arin when they’re recording. It’s like a little game in his head, one that doesn’t lead anywhere, but still feels constantly rewarding.

 

"Is it me?" Suzy asks, not tipping her head back to look at him.

"Is what you?" Dan says, trying to backtrack through their conversation to find the other end of that question.

"The reason you wouldn't seduce me if this was the end," Suzy says quietly.

"Suze, Scuzy," Dan says slowly. He moves to the side, so he can look at her. "Do you really think that?"

"No,” Suzy says quickly. “I mean... I don't know, do I?"

"Of course it's not you," Dan says. "You're beautiful and hot and funny and sweet and-" He trails off, because he’s definitely talking too fast. "I couldn't do that to Arin and you. Even if it were a hypothetical last night on earth."

There is a moment’s pause following that, but Dan doesn’t try to fill it.

"Okay," Suzy says, slowly. "Thank you Dan."

"There's nothing to thank me for," Dan says, rubbing his chin, and shutting his eyes for a moment, trying to find some kind of focal point for his mind.

 

When Suzy says his name, he’s not entirely sure how much silence has passed between them. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, but perhaps he should have followed up their conversation better. Perhaps there were ways to round that off, that he didn’t do.

"Right here," he says, and he can hear Suzy inhale, sharply.

"Would you want to kiss me, if I said it was alright?" she says.

"Suzy..." Dan begins, but he fumbles because he has no idea what is going on, or why he has no idea how that sentence should end.

"If I swore on Arin and on my cats," Suzy says, and she sounds very certain. Very close to the determined tone that Dan already knows.

For a long while, Dan just stays quiet, because he knows that Suzy will understand why he feels like he has to be. Then, fixing his eyes up at the car ceiling, he nods, just once.

"Yeah. Yes I would."

 

Suzy turns over in his arms, and Dan has about fifteen seconds to internally freak out about everything that is currently going on, and what might or might not happen next, so he does.

"Tell your head to shut up," Suzy says, propping herself up on her forearms against his chest. "I know that look."

"It doesn't have an off button, Scuze," he says quietly.

Suzy smiles as if she knows a secret. "Yes it does," she tells him, pushing herself up the rest of the way.  

 

Their lips meet, and the tip of Suzy's nose is very cold when it presses against Dan's cheek. Her lips are cold too, but her mouth is warm and open. Dan feels like the world could be crumbling outside the car and he would be none the wiser.

"Is this a new thing?" he asks Suzy, when she pulls back, still smiling to herself.

"A little. Is it for you?" she asks.

"Yes, and also no," Dan says, and he can't stop himself from kissing her again, just briefly.

"We'll figure it out," Suzy says against his lips.

 

They kiss until Dan's mouth doesn't even get sticky with lipgloss anymore, because it's all gone from Suzy's lips. After that, Suzy sighs and rests her head against Dan's chest, hands wrapping around his waist.

"Hey," Dan says, surprised at how raspy his voice sounds. He turns his head away from Suzy and coughs into his elbow. "I think we can go now," he tells her.

"Yeah?” Suzy says, perking up and looking through the window. “We should try.”

Dan looks down at her. "Do you want me to drive?"

"Yes please," Suzy says, but when she moves away from him, it’s slow and in between soft, short kisses.

There’s something tentative about them, and Dan thinks that he likes that. How they don’t feel reckless, even if they did just kiss for the first through to the fifteenth time, in the back of a car.

 

Suzy’s pinky curls around Dan’s wrist when he drives them, slowly and surely, back to the cabin.

When they step out of the car, he looks over at her. The snow is falling softly, catching in her hair and in her lashes. Before he knows it, he has his fingertips to her jaw and she's looking up at him, smiling.

"Not the last night on earth," Dan says quietly.

Suzy places her hand over his, and smiles. "Good," she says.

**Author's Note:**

> This was prompted over at my GG sideblog damnavidans.


End file.
